Paper container key to ice cream launch - innovative packaging and marketing strategy at Anderson Erickson Dairy Co

Dairy Foods, March, 1997

Radio DJs 'conceive,'promote Anderson Erickson flavor

With a limited marketing budget for its reformulated premium ice cream line, Anderson Erickson Dairy Co., Des Moines, Iowa, decided to try something a little different to relaunch its product.

Taking full advantage of the high graphic quality and capability of the product's new Convocan straightwailed round paper containers from Sealright, DeSoto, Kan., the dairy teamed up with a statewide radio station last summer to launch an innovative marketing campaign featuring the new package.

The plan was for the team of popular morning radio personalities from WHO Radio, Des Moines, to "conceive" the notion of a new Anderson Erickson ice cream flavor to be named after themselves. They suggested the idea to Joyce Durlam, Anderson Erickson's marketing director, during a live interview.

Van Harden and Bonnie Lucas devoted several broadcasts to "their" flavor, which became known as "Van and Bonnie." When the flavor finally rolled out - vanilla packed with five different types of bonbons - the station did a live broadcast as the DJs experienced their first taste. From that point on, Anderson Erickson says it couldn't produce the new flavor fast enough.

The new flavor's Convocan container featured a picture of the morning show DJs in Grant Wood "American Gothic" style - complete with overalls and pitchfork - superimposed over the usual carton graphics. Sealright printed the container using lithography, but uses process flexography for the dairy's other flavors.

Although its premium ice cream was No. I in the greater Des Moines area, Anderson Erickson found sales were low to nonexistent in other regional markets, such as Kansas City, Mo. Anderson Erickson reformulated its premium line from a natural, unstabilized product to a stabilized premium ice cream. As for packaging, "The Convocan package is the industry standard for premium ice cream in this market and the preferred package of consumers. It made perfect sense to go with the Convocan package," says David Bush, general manager for Anderson Erickson's ice cream business.

Anderson Erickson had packaged its premium ice cream in half-gallon plastic containers for more than eight years. Bush says the Convocan container from Sealright has much better graphic capabilities.

"The cost of the half-gallon plastic carton was higher than the Convocan container, when you take into consideration the expenses of a corrugated shipper and a sealer under the lid. This all added up to a tidy sum," Bush says.

Switching from plastic to paper caused significant changes in Anderson Erickson's plant operations. Bush says Sealright made strong commitments to the dairy in the form of machinery, including forming, filling and conveying equipment, to help the plant become more efficient.

"Their partnership approach made it easy and cost effective for us to make the change. Because of Sealright's commitment, we even decided to go with the paper for our frozen yogurt in half gallons and our regular ice cream line in pints."

Anderson Erickson's new packaging equipment included Sealright's Convocan System 1100-44 forming machine. This in-plant packaging system forms round, straight-walled containers from fiat sidewalls and bottom disks. The machine shapes the pre-printed sidewalls, crimps and heat seals them to the bottoms, forms a top curl and delivers the finished package for filling. The Convocan System 1100-44 can produce 44 containers per minute and forms containers in traditional sizes, such as quart, half-gallon, liter and 2-liter. Components for thousands of containers can be stored in a few cubic feet, freeing valuable storage space.

Durlam says the marketing campaign with WHO Radio personalities couldn't have been done using plastic containers. "This whole phenomenon centered on being able to see these people on the package, and we were able to get a clean picture on the Convocan container."